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when you dress in Vintage do you also think & act, talk like they did from the era?

sheeplady

I'll Lock Up
Bartender
Messages
4,479
Location
Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, USA
I've often thought it might be fun to pull a time-travel hoax. Given the way people swallowed up that "Time Traveling Hipster" foolishness a couple years ago it wouldn't be hard to do -- it's not hard to find accurate reproductions of period ID documents and period currency is as close as your nearest coin shop. Equip yourself with such things, dress carefully, and wander into a newspaper office looking bewildered -- and see how far you can lead them on.

Sadly, as amazing as this would be, I would be afraid that they'd commit anybody who did this.

I actually knew someone who worked at a psych center. Somehow a patient got an outside line, called the police, and said he'd been taken and held against his will and was afraid for his life. A person who was working intercepted the call and explained to the police that this guy was a patient. The officer never even called the center to ask if they had a patient of that name or a staff member of that name. (This was long before the internet.) I know, totally unrelated story, but a psych center is the last place I want to end up unless I actually need help.
 

Flicka

One Too Many
Messages
1,165
Location
Sweden
No, I'm me whatever I wear. I don't think my day job would appreciate if I refused to talk about certain topics because of my skirt. :p
 
Messages
13,460
Location
Orange County, CA
Very late at night, some of us --dressed to the vintage nines-- have silently strolled along the ship's more secluded sections: decks, stateroom hallways, etc. I kid you not: several people who saw us actually thought that we were ghosts, and reacted as such.

That would make a great YouTube video as seen from the other side! Bring some non-vintage friends who have no idea that the FL event is going on, fill their heads with ghost stories and then take them for a little "ghost hunting" that night. lol :D ;)
 

Pompidou

One Too Many
Messages
1,242
Location
Plainfield, CT
Pretending you're a Dick Tracy villain the moment you plop on a hat would certainly go a long way to prove the hecklers right. No, I'm always me, uncompromisingly, for better or worse, all the time.
 

samtemporary

One of the Regulars
Messages
176
Location
Fort Lauderdale, FL
I've been told that I have an old spirit, somewhat of an anachronism, ever since I was young. Although I have an interest in period lingo and manners that - today - seem somewhat outdated (like how to wear a hat indoors or what to do when you meet a woman), I certainly don't try to "act the part." If you see me siting in the airport wearing a 3-piece and a fedora, be rest-assured I'm listening to my i-Pod and checking my smartphone.

With that being said, I noticed several replies to this post where the "old spirit" comment was made. So, are people like us drawn to certain periods in the past because of simple aesthetics or an affectation for period fashion, or is there perhaps something more going on? I don't believe in reincarnation, but...it is an uncanny coincidence...
 

LizzieMaine

Bartender
Messages
33,722
Location
Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
With that being said, I noticed several replies to this post where the "old spirit" comment was made. So, are people like us drawn to certain periods in the past because of simple aesthetics or an affectation for period fashion, or is there perhaps something more going on? I don't believe in reincarnation, but...it is an uncanny coincidence...

Or maybe we're just atavists.
 

m0nk

One Too Many
Messages
1,004
Location
Camp Hill, Pa
This is a little out-there from most of the other posts, but I have to admit, when I watch a golden-era movie I tend to pick up certain mannerisms and a quicker wit. I don't try it, this just happens, and it's only when I watch something from that era an not when I dress a particular way. The same thing happened when I was in the Army so many years ago, I attended basic training in Georgia and after a couple weeks of being there I accidentally picked up a slight southern "drawl".

My sister has a tendancy to pick up accents as well, and actually quite a bit more. She travels all over the world for work and you can tell what region she was in last by her accent at any given time. Even native residents of those regions have a hard time believing that she is American, especially when she speaks the language with the accent.
 

rue

Messages
13,319
Location
California native living in Arizona.
I did that too when I lived in Virginia and had no idea it was happening. My friends in California used to kid me about it all the time. I lost it after awhile when I moved out of the state.
 
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Amy Jeanne

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,858
Location
Colorado
I sometimes talk like movies from the 30s just to goof around -- my favourite is a big loud "OH, YEA!" Winnie Lightner style! lol Adrienne Dore called a guy a "fresh egg" in the movie The Wild Party (1929) and I say that all the time to be goofy, but otherwise I am me and I fully admit to and appreciate living in the present with deep appreciation for the past. The best of both worlds!
 

JohnnyLoco

Familiar Face
Messages
67
Location
San Antonio, TX
I think that the thoughts underlying the decision to go "authentically vintage" in dress necessarily requires vintage purists to alter or shape the way they act or believe ethically. I mean the thinking and acting part can't be separated from the dressing part because vintage purists already have some idea of the superiority and difference of certain past cultures to that of their own modern one.
 
Messages
10,931
Location
My mother's basement
Pretending you're a Dick Tracy villain the moment you plop on a hat would certainly go a long way to prove the hecklers right. ...

Exactly.

It's akin to people who affect a "dangerous" demeanor and then complain that people in general would rather they keep their distance. Or a clownish person wondering why people might laugh at him.

Oh, to see ourselves as others see us.
 
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Miss Stella

One of the Regulars
Messages
195
Location
California
I don't so much pick up the accents but I do tend to speak better, watch my posture and am mindful of doing one thing at a time well instead of doing a hohum job at three things at once.
I also tend to dress better because the actresses take me back to that time when ladies lunched and wore hats and gloves...I just love that picture in my head , wish I were there :)
 

Mr Vim

One Too Many
Messages
1,306
Location
Juneau, Alaska
I do not act any different than I do when I am not dressing vintage, but do I use terms that many think are outdated, oh yeah.
 

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